Novel coated and molded woven fabrics and method of making the same



United States Patent "ice 3,400,004 NOVEL COATED AND MOLDED WOVEN FABRICS AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME William A. Corry, Toledo, Ohio, assignor to Interchemical Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Ohio No Drawing. Filed Feb. 20, 1963, Ser. No. 260,058 12 Claims. (Cl. 117-7) This invention relates to novel woven textile fabrics and particularly to novel coated fabrics made from said woven fabrics. This invention further relates to heat shaped articles formed from said coated fabrics.

There is at present a wide demand for articles made of coated fabrics, particularly in the upholstery field. Coated fabrics conventionally comprise a textile substrate coated with a predominantly thermoplastic resin coating. Thermoplastic resins conventionally used in coated fabrics include vinyl chloride resins, polystrenes and acrylic resins.

In preparing coated fabric articles to be used in up holstery, the coated fabric is conventionally patterned, cut and sewed or seamed together to form the selected shape in a manner much the same as that applied to noncoated fabrics.

I have now discovered a novel woven textile fabric which when coated with a conventional thermoplastic coating provides a novel coated fabric which may be heat shaped or molded into an article of selected shape thus eliminating the costly and time consuming patterning, cutting and seaming operations of conventional practices. The novel woven textile of my invention comprises a warp of polypropylene yarns and weft of yarns selected from the group consisting of stretchable textured nylon yarns, slack mercerized natural cellulose yarns such as cotton and slack mercerized regenerated cellulose yarns.

The combination of a warp consisting essentially of polypropylene yarns and a weft consisting essentially of either natural or regenerated cellulose yarns has been found very important in the coating and the heat shaping of the coated fabric. It is essential that the yarns in the warp do not distort at the temperatures (225 to 290 F.) of the conventional calendering operation which is the most efficient and effective means for preparing the coated fabrics of this invention. Further, the yarns of the warp must be thermoplastic to the extent that they readily flow at the temperatures and pressures of conventional heat shaping. Concurrently, the weft yarns must not be affected by the temperatures of the coating operation and must primarily provide the adhesion between the textile substrate and the coating composition since virtually any thermoplastic yarn which could be used in the warp would not display the adhesion required of coated fabrics. In addition, the Weft yarns must be readily mechanically extendable by the pressures of the heat shaping or molding operations.

So far as is know, with the exception of my novel fabrics, there are no existing coated fabrics which can be heat shaped into articles. Uncoated woven fabrics of Dynel (copolymer of acrylonitrile and vinyl chloride) yarn are being heat shaped to form articles such as hat-s, stiffened linings for clothing and packaging for delicate instruments. However, coated fabrics of Dynel yarns have not been produced primarily because such yarns display very poor adhesion to the thermoplastic coatings used for coated fabrics. In addition, Dynel fabrics are too heat sensitive to be coated by the conventional calendering methods. Available polyethylene yarns have been found not to provide a suitable substitute for the polypropylene fibers of the warp. Both low and high density polyethylene become distorted at the temperatures of the conventional calendering operations.

3,400,004 Patented Sept. 3, 1968 As has been previously mentioned the yarns of the weft must be in a stretchable condition. Textured nylon provides a very suitable yarn. Textured or bulked yarns are those which have been treated to have a relatively high potential stretch. The term textured is meant to in clude crimped, curled, looped and heat set yarns. When the weft comprises cellulose yarns such as cotton or rayon, these yarns are preferably mercerized to their stretchable condition. This is preferably accomplished by slack mercerizing (without tension) the fabric containing the cotton or rayon weft prior to coating the fabric.

While the coating composition may suitably be selected from any of the conventional thermoplastic coating compositions for coated fabrics such as polystyrenes and acrylic resins, best results are obtained using a conventional vinyl chloride resin coating composition. The term vinyl chloride resin is meant to include both vinyl chloride homopolymers and copolymers of predominantly vinyl chloride with other monomers such as vinyl acetate. The coating composition may of course contain suitable plasticizers, pigments and stabilizers.

The thermoplastic coating is preferably applied to the substrateby calendering. The temperatures of the rollers and the coating composition during calendering may be as high as 330 F. However, the temperatures of the fabric itself will of course be considerably lower because of short contact times and resulting temperatures after heat exchange. However, it has been noticed that the temperatures are some times high enough to produce the tendency of shrinkage in the polypropylene yarn of the warp. This tendency is readily compensated for by keeping the warp under tension during coating. The customary slight tension exerted on the warp in drawing the fabric as a web through the calendering rollers has been found to be more than sufiicient to compensate for the tendecy of the web to shrink.

The coated fabrics of this invention may be heat shaped or molded. The fabrics, by means of the polypropylene warp which flows, retain their shape after being molded. The shaping or molding is carried out over a temperature range preferably from 280 to 320 F. The molding techniques which may be used include plug molding which employs a male die, compression forming which uses both male and female dies and vacuum forming.

It should be noted that in the present specification and claims, all proportions are by weight unless otherwise stated.

The following examples will illustrate the practice of this invention:

Example 1 A woven fabric constructed of a warp consisting wholly of polypropylene yarn of about 223 denier and 1 ply, 52 warp ends per inch and a weft consisting wholly of textured nylon yarn of about 166 denier and 2 ply, 48 weft ends per inch (weft contraction 23.2%), said fabric having a weight of 2.84 oz. per square yard is coated by calendering at a roller temperature of about 310 to 320 F., the warp being under tension to prevent any shrinkage of the polypropylene, 'with a conventional vinyl chloride resin coating composition comprising:

Parts by weight A resin containinig vinyl chloride and 5% vinyl acetate Dioctyl phthalate plasticizer 70 TiO pigment 10 Calcium carbonate 20 Calcium stearate 1 Barium-cadmium laurate stabilizer 2 The coating thickness is about 15 mils.

The coated fabric is then cooled, after which the coated fabric is molded by vacuum molding. The coated fabric a is clamped into a conventional vacuum molding apparatus and heated by infrared means to about 300 F. The clamp is then dropped and a vacuum pulled which draws the coated fabric against the contours of the selected mold. The contoured coated fabric is permitted to cool. The product is a contoured coated fabric article of a selected shape.

Example 2 A woven fabric constructed of a warp consisting wholly of polypropylene yarn of about 218 denier and 1 ply, 46 warp ends per inch and a weft consisting wholly of cotton yarn of 7.85 s yarn number, 1 ply 51.3 weft ends per inch, said fabric having a weight of 3.88 oz. per square yard is mercerized by immersion without tension in a 25% solution of NaOH in water at about 68 F. for 30 minutes. The fabric is then rinsed in water, soured in a 5% acetic acid solution and rinsed again with water.

The fabric is then coated in accordance with the procedure of Example 1 with the coating composition of Example 1. Then following the procedure of Example 1, the resulting coated fabric is vacuum molded into a selected shape.

Example 3 A woven fabric constructed of a warp consisting wholly of polypropylene yarns and a weft consisting wholly of viscose rayon yarns is first slack mercerized in accordance with the procedure of Example 2. The fabric is then coated in accordance with the procedure of Example 1 with the coating composition of Example 1. Then following the procedure of Example 1, the resulting coated fabric is vacuum molded into a selected shape.

What is claimed is:

1. A coated fabric comprising a textile substrate having a warp of polypropylene yarns and a weft of stetchable textured nylon yarns and a thermoplastic resin coating on said substrate.

2. A coated fabric comprising a textile substrate having a warp of polypropylene yarns and a weft of slack mercerized cotton yarns and a thermoplastic resin coating on said substrate.

3. A coated fabric comprising a textile substrate having a warp of polypropylene yarns and a weft of slack mercerized rayon yarns and a thermoplastic resin coating on said substrate.

4. The coated fabric of claim 1 wherein said thermoplastic resin is a vinyl chloride resin.

5. The coated fabric of claim 2 wherein said thermoplastic resin is a vinyl chloride resin.

6. The coated fabric of claim 3 wherein said thermoplastic resin is a vinyl chloride resin.

7. A heat shaped coated fabric comprising a contoured substrate having a warp of polypropylene yarns and a weft of a yarn selected from the group consisting of stretchable textured nylon yarns, slack mercerized natural cellulose yarns and slack mercerized regenerated cellulose yarns, said substrate carrying a coating of a thermoplastic resin.

8. A heat shaped coated fabric comprising a contoured substrate having a warp of polypropylene yarns and a weft of stretchable textured nylon yarns, said substrate carrying a coating of a vinyl chloride resin.

9. A heat shaped coated fabric comprising a contoured substrate having a warp of polypropylene yarns and a weft of slack mercerized cotton yarns, said substrate carrying a coating of a thermoplastic resin.

10. A method of making a coated fabric article comprising (1) applying with a heat thermoplastic coating composition to a textile substrate comprising a warp of polypropylene yarns and a weft of a yarn selected from the group consisting of stretchable textured nylon yarns, slack mercerized natural cellulose yarns and slack mercerized regenerated cellulose yarns, said warp being maintained under tension during the application of the coating and (2) heat molding said coated substrate to a selected shape.

11. A method of making a coated fabric article comprising (1) applying with heat a coating composition of a vinyl chloride resin to a textile substrate comprising a warp of polypropylene yarns and a weft of stretchable textured nylon yarns, said warp being maintained under tension during the application of the coating and (2) heat molding said coated substrate to a selected shape.

12. A method of making a coated fabric article comprising (1) applying with heat a coating composition of a vinyl chloride resin to a textile substrate comprising a warp of polypropylene yarns and a weft of slack mercerized cotton yarns, said warp being maintained under tension during the application of the coating and (2) heat molding said coated substrate to a selected shape.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,370,597 3/1921 Lambert 156-161 2,827,414 3/1958 Bussard et al 16178 X 2,942,327 6/1960 Corry 161-91 2,810,184 10/1957 Sherman 139-421 X 3,142,109 7/1964 

10. A METHOD OF MAKING A COATED FABRIC ARTICLE COMPRISING (1) APPLYING WITH A HEAT THERMOPLASTIC COATING COMPOSITIONS TO A TEXTILE SUBSTRATE COMPRISING A WARP OF POLYPROPYLENE YARNS AND A WEFT OF A YARN SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF STRETCHABLE TEXTURED NYLN YARNS, SLACK MERCERIZED NATURAL CELLULOSE YARNS AND SLACK MERCERIZED REGENERATED CELLULOSE YARNS, SAID WARP BEING MAINTAINED UNDER TENSION DURING THE APPLICATION OF THE COATING AND (2) HEAT MOLDING SAID COATED SUBSTRATE TO A SELECTED SHAPE. 